Gender in Human Resources: Hiding in plain sight

Abstract

This paper argues an important aspect of Human Resources (HR) as an occupation has been largely overlooked by mainstream and critical scholars alike: its gendered qualities. Gender is ‘hiding in plain sight’ in the sense that its high concentration of women is obvious but has attracted only sporadic academic commentary. We suggest rather than simply a ‘feminised’ area of management, contemporary HR is a complex mix of both masculine-coded and feminine-coded values, priorities and norms derived from earlier traditions of welfare and personnel management as well as the later influence of strategic management. Attention to this gendered complexity can help us understand how the HR occupation is experienced in everyday interactions and provide an alternative perspective that enriches Critical Human Resource Management.